Mounties football team still searching for a win

SACKVILLE, N.B. - For the glass-half-full crowd, the Mount Allison Mounties did hold a 20-10 halftime lead over the nationally No. 3-ranked Saint Mary's Huskies last week.
But that glass emptied quickly, as the Mounties surrendered 32 third-quarter points en route to a 50-20 setback, leaving the garnet-and-gold still searching for their first win as the Atlantic University Sport football schedule hits its midpoint this week.
"That second half was just a combination of poor field position and a lack of execution in all three phases of the game, especially in the third quarter," Mounties interim head coach Kelly Jeffrey said. "But we did take a huge step forward in the first half."
Such has been the case for Mount Allison so far this season - improvement in some areas one series, disaster in others the next. The Mounties, with a break or two, know they could take a winning record into Saturday's homecoming game against the 2-1 St. Francis Xavier X-Men at MacAulay FIeld, who dealt Mount Allison a 29-24 heartbreaker in the season-opener Sept. 6 in Antigonish.
"It's hard to sweep a team, so that's a bit of a psychological advantage for us," Jeffrey said. "Plus our kids are excited to play in our homecoming game in front of what should be a big crowd.
"We ran into a bit of the unknown in that first game (at St. F.X.). They had some different looks that were working for them, and they did a good job bringing pressure from their defence, so that's something we've had to prepare for."
Saint Mary's (3-0) can clinch a playoff berth before the calendar turns to October should it defeat the Acadia Axemen (0-3) in Wolfville on Saturday night. Acadia's misfortunes are helping keep Mount Allison in the playoff picture, but it's essentially a must-win game if Mount Allison wants any chance at playing a postseason contest on home turf.
"Urgency is probably a good word to describe it," Jeffrey said. "It's a big week, they're a good team and we have to be ready to compete."